Small Problem

My mom is letting me get a BP for my 18th birthday. The problem? She will not, repeat, will not let me store frozen mice in the freezer. All feeders for it have to be alive. Basically, will feeding live mice be okay as long as I watch closely to make sure my snake isn't harmed by a mouse?

There is no problem feeding live mice/rats as long as you don't leave the rodent in the enclosure unsupervised. There are plenty of posts on this forum about feeding live. Do a little research so that you are comfortable with it. :)

Maybe you could invest in a mini freezer just for that purpose. Otherwise live isn't a huge deal you just can't really buy in bulk.

I've heard the whole "oh, if you watch em reallll close and make sure nothing happens, it's okay to feed live." bull crap a few too many times. I have 3 BPs that have to feed live because no matter what I try they will NOT eat frozen or prekilled..but anyways..I watch very closely every time, and I've had a snake get bit a few times(never anything too graphic and he always recovered in a week or so) but my point is that no matter how close you watch or how quick you think you are, feeding live is never safe, because it just all happens too fast. and thats something that you just have to either be okay with, or when your mom isnt looking bash the mouse/rat on the table to kill it real quick. :rolleyes:

Maybe try talking to the pet shop where you will be getting your live mice from and see if they have frozen feeders available.

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Originally Posted by Powerspythons

I've heard the whole "oh, if you watch em reallll close and make sure nothing happens, it's okay to feed live." bull crap a few too many times. I have 3 BPs that have to feed live because no matter what I try they will NOT eat frozen or prekilled..but anyways..I watch very closely every time, and I've had a snake get bit a few times(never anything too graphic and he always recovered in a week or so) but my point is that no matter how close you watch or how quick you think you are, feeding live is never safe, because it just all happens too fast. and thats something that you just have to either be okay with, or when your mom isnt looking bash the mouse/rat on the table to kill it real quick. :rolleyes:

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I've heard the whole "feeding frozen is the only way if you care about your animals" crap a few too many times. Get over yourself. They are snakes. They are not made of glass. Getting bit lets them know they had a bad strike and how to correct it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding live, except some people are way overprotective.

And, I really don't think you should go behind your mom's back and start bashing their heads around. You have to do it just right to kill the rat anyway. Most likely you are going to end up with a spacing, bleeding rat. Ugh. Gross.

I would do what you have to, but most likely it will be ok to feed live.

The easiest solution is to ask the pet store to pre-kill (euthanize) the feeders for you. I keep frozen in the freezer for my BPs, but I still have a small Rosy Boa which only eats live pinkies. Every once in a while I just get pre-killed when I am there getting the pinkies. The BPs eat them just as easily as frozen.

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Originally Posted by stratus_020202

I've heard the whole "feeding frozen is the only way if you care about your animals" crap a few too many times. Get over yourself. They are snakes. They are not made of glass. Getting bit lets them know they had a bad strike and how to correct it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding live, except some people are way overprotective.

And, I really don't think you should go behind your mom's back and start bashing their heads around. You have to do it just right to kill the rat anyway. Most likely you are going to end up with a spacing, bleeding rat. Ugh. Gross.

I would do what you have to, but most likely it will be ok to feed live.

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Trust me, you don't have to worry about that. I don't like killing and I wouldn't kill a mouse to feed it to a snake anyway. I rather buy them live anyways because the snake gets to hunt like it would in the wild.

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Originally Posted by PastelPython

Trust me, you don't have to worry about that. I don't like killing and I wouldn't kill a mouse to feed it to a snake anyway. I rather buy them live anyways because the snake gets to hunt like it would in the wild.

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My snakes still hunt their frozen prey too.

The "predatory stimulation" theory is something that doesn't need to be experienced. Snakes smell food, they go into feeding mode and they eat. They don't care weather or not the prey is alive at the start of it.

If you dont want mice in your regular freezer there are a few options:

1. invest in a minifreezer or mini fridge. All you need is a 1x1x1 freezer, they make them for college kids.
2. feed live. Snakes have been eating live prey for thousands of years.
3. feed F/T, but pick up your feeders the day you're going to feed.

There are variants, but those are the three basic things I can come up with. Personally? I've got a chest feezer, best 180.00 i ever spent.

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Originally Posted by PastelPython

Trust me, you don't have to worry about that. I don't like killing and I wouldn't kill a mouse to feed it to a snake anyway. I rather buy them live anyways because the snake gets to hunt like it would in the wild.

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Snakes don't really hunt, they're ambush predators. They'll go after it a little bit but they won't go chasing down a rodent in the wild. That would be a sight! :rofl:

These animals are purely instinctual. They are not domesticated. Sometimes they'll get the concept that a rat is already dead and won't waste the energy on constricting, but comes a time when a new live animal appears: instinct will take over and they will kill it.

I know various breeders that feed live to thousands of snakes every day with no serious problems. I've had a snake get bit by a rat before (I don't like to feed adult rats because they tend to be more dangerous and intelligent) but a little neosporin and she was good as new.
Quite honestly, the situations where snakes are killed by rats are because some irresponsible owner left it in over night, or fed something too dangerous to the snake. It's a risk, but not that big of one.